Process for tanning hides.



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RUFUS N. MOORE, OF THOR? SPRING, TEXAS.

YROCESS FOR TANNING HIDES.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Bonus N. Moonn, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Thorp Spring, in the county of Hood and State of Texas, have invented a certain new and useful Process for Tanning Hides, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new and useful form of process and method for preserving, tanning and curing animal hides, such as the tanning of cow, horse and other animal hides preparing them ready for the market and rendering them of commercial value.

A purpose of this invention and discovery is to provide such a simplified process and effective method for the purposes described that the stock raisers, farmers and others who may have hides for commercial purposes may quickly and cheaply tan their own hides and obtain a superior grade of leather obviating the necessity of sending their products to tanneries and experiencing that necessary delay and expense which thus attends the preserving of the hide.

In my process I first remove all fatty matter and flesh strips which may have remained on the hide or pelt when same was skinned or removed from the animal. If the hide is green or fresh, and flexible and pliable this removal of the fatty matter is an easy step, but if the hide is dry and has not been recently removed from the animal it should be soaked in water until it is soft and pliable.

Next the pelt or hide is immersed and soaked in a solution of lime water, which step in the process is taken to kill the hair follicle which allows the hair to be easily removed from the hide. After the hair covering, fleshy matter and other foreign substances are entirely removed therefrom it is thoroughly soaked and washed in clear water of several changes till all the lime is thoroughly expunged from the cells of the hide, at which time it is ready to be passed through the primary step of tanning and curing.

This invention proper includes a certain combination and proportion of chemical ingredients composing the tanning solution or ooze. The tanning solution consists of two pounds of gum gambier, one pound of Epsom salts, one pound pulverized alum, and one pound nitrate of sodium all thoroughly dissolved in water raised to an ab Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 19, 1918.

Application filed December 1, 1916. Serial No. 134,358.

normal temperature or to a temperature not too hot to be worked with the hands of the tanner. The above described chemical ingredients in the proportions recited are precipitated in water of sufficient quantity to cover a hide of ordinary size. hides the solution or tanning ooze as described will be proportionately increased both in chemical ingredients and warm water.

The hide is now dipped in the tanning ooze and thoroughly saturated and removed, and aired for five minutes after which it is returned to the vessel containing the solution. The hide is next removed and aired two or three times during the first two 01 three hours of its immersion in the tanning ooze, after which it will be aired one time each succeeding day for two days, thereafter being allowed to remain in said tanning ooze or solution until the hide is thoroughly tanned which requires several days.

The removal and airing process herein described as performed several times during the early stages of the immersion of the hide, or the pelt 1n the tanning ooze is for the purpose of allowing the tanning solution to be drained and dripped from the hide which will allow the air to penetrate the fiber and formation of the pelt, which action of the air upon the pelt properly expands the inter-fibrillar spaces to a substantially normal size allowing an equal and even distribution and absorption of the solution into the pelt, all of which makes for the better and more even curing process both in coloring and in the tanning thereof.

After the hide remains in the tanning solution for several days and is thoroughly cured and tanned it is removed therefrom and put through another thorough washing in clear water. Another solution is now prepared consisting of one-half ounce of oil of cedar wood, thoroughly mixed in a quantity of water suflicient to cover the hide. The hide is placed in this oil solution and allowed to remain for about twelve hours, after which it is removed and spread out upon a smooth surface in the shade where the superfluous quantity of water contained in the hide is wiped or brushed therefrom. After the hide is partially dried in the shade it is thoroughly oiled with fish oil or other good leather oil, the oil being thoroughly rubbed and absorbed by said hide. After the pelt is thoroughly oiled and further dried For larger it is given the breaking process whichcon= I In the present invention and process of tanning the gum'gambler acts as a coloring and preserving agent while the nitrateof sodiumpermeates the cellular formation'o-f pores and raising theleather till it is slightly thicker and tougher the hide opening the in its original condition. The alum included in the tanning formula serves to remove the glue or fatty portions of flesh which might have adhered to the pelt after the flesh removing process. The Epsom salts operates on the formation and fiber of the leatherto fasten between the fiber of the leather and prevent it from} becoming hard sists of putting the pelt through a rolling and brittle, which hardness and brittleness might otherwise be caused by the alum; the salts in fact serving to counteract the hardening tendency of the alum.

This process of hide and pelt tanning is simplified in its various steps and will produce a superior form of leather, anyone be ing able to carry out to a successful termination the tanning of the pelt or hide by the use of the, said process. 7

Having thoroughly described my discovcry and invention which resides in the steps and methods taken in c-u'ring as heretofore described. and as included in the certain combination of chemical ingredients as setup in thisjinstrumen't of Letters-Patent, I now make the following claim therefor: g

' tanning solution com-posed of two pounds of gum gamb-ier, one pound 013E 5- so'm salts, one ponnd of piu l'verized alum, one pound of nitrate of sodium, and water;

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

RUFUS MQQRE. Witnesses:

J. ;KENNER, V; HoLDE-N.

Copies, ofthisfipatent maybe obtained: for five cents each, by/ addressingthe Commissioner oflatents,

' Washington, D. 03" 

